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Kentikian Destroys Ortega

By Erik Schmidt: Undefeated WIBF Women’s International Boxing Federation flyweight and WBA Female flyweight champion Susi Kentikian (21-0, 16 KOs) successfully defended her titles with a destructive 1st round TKO of American Mary Ortega (29-5-2, 8 KOs) of a scheduled 10-round title bout at the Brandberge Arena, Halle, an der Saale, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, on Saturday night. Kentikian, 20, making her second defense of her WIBF title, dropped Ortega twice in the 1st round and was pummeling her against the ropes afterwards causing the referee to come to Ortega’s rescue and stop the fight.

Ortega, 27, never had a chance in the bout, as she was stopped with a blistering 1-2 combination from Kentikian just seconds into the fight. I’m not quite sure whether Ortega ever recovered from the knockdown because it was a devastating combination, which Ortega seemed to never see coming. The reason for that, perhaps, is because Kentikian started slow in the round, mostly throwing weak combinations with very little power put on the shots. She seemed to just be trying to make contact with Ortega and wasn’t loading up with her shots like she usually does against her opponents. Ortega, though, should have had an idea that Kentikian can punch a little because she’d knocked out 15 of her 20 opponents going into the fight, which should have been evidence enough that Kentikian is a fighter that you have to be very careful with in the ring.

As things were, Kentikian put very little on her shots in the opening minute of the fight, but then suddenly unleashed a lightning fast left-right combination that caught Ortega flush dropping her on her backside. Ortega got up, looking both shocked and hurt, as if she didn’t know what had hit her. Kentikian immediately attacked her hard as soon as the action was restarted, landing vicious combinations to the head and body of Ortega. For her part, Ortega attempted in vain to cover up while backed against the ropes. Without any room to get away from Kentikian’s big shots, Ortega was nailed by a huge right hand from Kentikian that momentarily caused Ortega’s legs to sag, almost sending her down for the second time.

However, she immediately stood back up and absorbed two more tremendous right hands from Kentikian, the second right hand knocking Ortega to the canvas for the second time in the round. Upon getting off the canvas, Ortega was given a standing eight count by the referee, who looked at her closely, poised to stop the bout. However, he let the fight continue on for several more moments. The referee might as well have stopped the fight because as soon as the action resumed, Kentikian was all over Ortega, tagging her with big right hands repeatedly without Ortega being able to defend herself. Seeing her plight, the referee stepped in and halted the fight.

Like most fighters, Ortega was upset with the stoppage, not seeming to understand why the referee had ended the fight so quickly. However, she was getting clocked over and over again by Kentikian and if the fight had been able to continue on for much longer, Kentikian would have no doubt dropped Ortega once again in the round. Ortega just wasn’t in the same league as Kentikian.

Perhaps if she had a little more size and power, she might have been able to make it interesting for a while, but with her size being about the same as Kentikian – 5’1” – Ortega was forced to stand and trade with the powerful, sparkplug-like Kentikian.. That’s not a good a thing do with a fighter with Kentikian’s power, and Ortega should have planned on an alternative, such as moving a lot more instead of standing directly in front of Kentikian.